By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
hanafuda said:
bardicverse said:
hanafuda said:
bardicverse said:
^^^^ at $50/copy x 400k, that's 20 mil for a game that cost 3.5 mil to make, in other words a profit of 16.5 mil. I'd call that successful. Now if its a HD game, thats a different story, as the development might cost as much as 20-30 mil. An HD game MUST break the mil mark in order to turn a profit in many cases. This is why a lot of devs like making Wii games. Easier turnaround to profitability.

 

Yeah, cuz Capcom pocket all the cash handed over to the retailers!

My bad, forgot to factor the maufacturing and retailer costs, so we're looking at 30/copy. So that's 12 mil. So in other words, it further makes HD development selling the same amount of copies unprofitable, as opposed to tripling money on a Wii development. In the end, the result is the same. Unless you are guaranteed to sell 1 mil plus copies, HD development is very risky. As of the last sales charts, the Wii and XB360 are tied with games that have topped a mil, both at 13 titles and the PS3 was at 7 or 8. By those numbers to actual games released ratio, that means that there's a lot of HD games that fell by the wayside and lost money in the development process.

 

Distribution costs, marketing costs, localization costs...

You are assuming a lot. Development costs of HD games comes down all the time as things get easier and more streamlined. Sure, in most cases it is probably higher than developing for systems like the PS2 or Wii, but even so, most of the rest of the costs stay the same.

Furthermore, due to higher competition and the rather odd Wii market, I'd say developing for Wii has plenty of risks. Try asking Bandai Namco how they feel about Pro Golfer Saru's opening week of 719 copies in Japan...

http://www.vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=28293

I think fewer devs are drinking Nintendo's, 'pot of gold at the end of the rainbow' kool aid regarding Wii development. It may have washed a year or so ago. Not any more.

 

 

Oh yeah, I'm sure that they were really disappointed about Pro Golfer Saru. I mean, it should've sold so much better given it's amazing 12/40 review score in Famitsu ...